Silly Season 2011/2012

[Shakeman]

Cynical pay driver line up or clever courting of South America?

The Senna/Williams links are going to get them press attention for sure but SA money is talking where traditional markets are in recession and/or unstable.

I just don't think Senna is all that good but don't mind being wrong on that.

[xpensive]

Goodbye Williams.

Basically HRT/Virgin status to this once great team now.

[blokkie]

Maybe they probably also retain some of Barrichello's sponser money as he parts F1. Both Senna and Barrichello are brazilian , so I think it's a smart financial move. Getting senna's money and adding - otherwise lost - sponser money from former driver barrichello

[Shrieker]

They need the money doesn't mean they suck now. Williams have huge experience, sure it hasn't showed much in recent years but you never know. I don't see any reason why they can't build a car at least on a par with -say- Sauber, now that they have Renault engines.

And good luck to Bruno. I'm sure he knows he has to make the most out of this chance to have a future in F1.

[dren]

Williams is saying that he won the seat on merrit and that the money he brings is a plus. I think that is a bunch of BS but we'll see.

[blokkie]

Looks like their stocks are reacting good to the news.

http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=wgf1.de

[ESPImperium]

Williams is saying that he won the seat on merrit and that the money he brings is a plus. I think that is a bunch of BS but we'll see.

PR speak for he is gonna drive for the next year and who ever wins from Senna and Maldanado will be shifted for Bottas so we can build the team arround those guys for 2013 to 2016.

Williams needs to get a stable driver lineup ASAP, ever since Montoya and Schumacher left they have had mediocre drivers with the occasional good one in the mix (Webber/Rosberg/Barrichello) to lead the team.

What Williams need to do is give Senna/Maldanado a car on the same level as where Sauber/Toro Rosso are on and build on it, with a good tech team, adding good tech guys to the team thay have will see progress.

Im giving the Williams team a target of 30 points next year in order to be on the level they need to be to get into 2013 on a strong footing and a footing that they can attack to the same level that Force India did last year.

[JohnsonsEvilTwin]

What is more important in f1 now? Driver or car?


Car right?

So why not have 2 pay drivers to move your team forwards so that it can actually invest in development, rather than a driver retirement fund.
To me Williams are being prudent, they can't afford to pay millions for a bloke to finish 14th.

Rather get a decent driver in senna, have his sponsors pay a bucket load of cash, and invest in the car/team and in time, they can regain some lustre.
I will bet my bottom dollar, McLaren will be doing the same thing in 5-10 years.(the caveat of them remaining "independant"McLaren)

[lebesset]

another demonstration of why williams have slid down the rankings ...when they needed the best development driver available they went for the money ...AGAIN

[gridwalker]

Even if he was the best development driver in history, there's no point in employing him if you can't afford to build new parts for him to develop!

[ESPImperium]

Money means investment yes, a decent driver in Senna with a hat full of cash means you can reinvigourate the facilities and pay the tech team what they want to perform.

The shopping list at Williams will now be on better equiptment. Sauber invested nearly €9m in new CNC machines last year, as well as spending €11m on other improvements as well. Id recon that this will pay off this year for them.

If Williams can invest even €12m in new gear for their technicians and engineers it will be a good thing. However Williams main area of improvement will be their CFD facility, they havnt done a major upgrade since 2009 seemingly, if they can upgrade it to the same level of what Sauber have in Albert3 (Last major upgrade in 2010 as a present from BMW) they will be in good shape. Their simulator is good, maybes just a few improvements there will also help.

Look at the expansion of the mid pack teams at present, Toro Rosso are spending €50m over 3 years, Sauber are spending €35m over 3 years, and Force India are rumored to be spending €100m over the next 3 years. The investment in the mid pack is where the next arms race in F1 will be, the top 5 teams will all have the best, the rest are going to take it to the bigger teams with facilities that are as good, but with less staff and arguably tallent, they will just do it more efficently.

However i can see a time when some of the lower teams think about track optomiseation, where they optomise their car for a certain track or group of tracks so they can get into the mix for race wins at that track or tracks. If they get say 20 points at say 4 or 5 tracks, they will be up above Renault and below Mercedes posistions last year. If a team optomise their car for 7 tracks, they will be where Mercedes were last year. I can see the era of optomiseation coming, have a season where you have half a dozen good weekends and the rest are mixed to poor. One team will try it one year and then start to move up the grid the next due to the ammount of money they get from FOM.

[scuderiafan]

Look at the expansion of the mid pack teams at present, Toro Rosso are spending €50m over 3 years, Sauber are spending €35m over 3 years, and Force India are rumored to be spending €100m over the next 3 years.

And look at where it's put Force India. They are now, solidly, the 6th best team I believe. Toro Rosso looks much stronger this year as well. In Formula One, you get what you pay for, and if you pay big, you get big results, as long as you pay for the right things.

[raymondu999]

Williams is saying that he won the seat on merrit and that the money he brings is a plus. I think that is a bunch of BS but we'll see.

They said the same of Maldonado last year. Nuff said.

[Byronrhys]

Look at the expansion of the mid pack teams at present, Toro Rosso are spending €50m over 3 years, Sauber are spending €35m over 3 years, and Force India are rumored to be spending €100m over the next 3 years.

And look at where it's put Force India. They are now, solidly, the 6th best team I believe. Toro Rosso looks much stronger this year as well. In Formula One, you get what you pay for, and if you pay big, you get big results, as long as you pay for the right things.

Trust me 2012 is gonna be totally different than 2011, this year true engineering genius is going to stand out much more than money.

[Mr.S]

I hope Williams slips furthur & fights with HR & Virgin. 2 Pay drivers when they could have had Sutil & even Barrichello at 40 is probably better.

Disgusting anyway. Senna buying his way to HRT,Renault & now Williams.